Alissa Bahr MWR Kurt Milberger Feb.

8, 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Final Draft Analyzing Senseless War and the Meaning of Life Wilfred Owen wrote many different styles of poetry, but his sonnets are some of his most famous. The aspects of ethos, pathos, and logos are all expressed expertly in his literary work and help to shape very dynamic poems capable of evoking serious emotion in their readers. However, it is often his use of pathos that appeals to his readers. In his sonnet Futility, Owen uses this literary technique and innovative writing style to express the brutality of war and inspire his readers to contemplate the meaning of life more deeply. The rhetorical questions he poses to his audience in the last two lines of his sonnet, along with assonance that allows him to convey deeper meanings of phrases, allow Owen to appeal to his readers emotions and brings them to see the senselessness of war that he has witnessed firsthand in World War I. Owen used two key innovative features in his poetry that made it so captivating to readers. The first is assonance. A building block of verse, it is a repeating of vowel sounds used to create internal rhyme within lines of a poem. (Poet of the Trenches). For example, he uses assonance to say gently its touch [the suns] awoke him once (2). Had he just said that the person in the sonnet used to wake up in the

morning, it would be stating an ordinary daily routine. Instead, he uses assonance to suggest that the sun has some sort of power over this character, an idea that would not be conveyed without his use of this literary technique. By allowing the reader to interpret his words in their own way, they feel more sympathetic not only for the fallen soldier, but towards Owens argument. The second is pararhyme. Similar to slant rhyme, pararhyme is a half rhyme in which there is vowel variation within the same consonant patter of words. This technique allowed him some flexibility with rhyming while still following a certain pattern to structure his work. The use of pararhyme complements Owens use of assonance quite well, too. He uses it to connect his thoughts, make his argument not only beautiful and deep, but rational and logical as well. This allows the reader to see a well-put-together argument without even realizing how deliberate Owen is being. For example, in line nine he uses pararhyme between star and stir in line eleven to relate the phrases woke, once the clays of a cold star and full-nerved - still warm - too hard to stir. These sentences suggest that the sun, something that created the possibility for life, that warmed this soldier, cannot wake him now. By applying rational thought to his raw emotions in this way, he is better able to employ the use of pathos in his writing. It makes the audience much more likely to see his point of view, rather than if he simply came off as a blubbering activist for world peace.

These two key features of his poetry allowed Owen to construct lyric poetry. They help his writing flow, and keep readers captivated by his writing. This lyrical aspect of his sonnets often helps Owen to employ the rhetorical appeal of pathos. These two writing techniques allow him to write poetry that is not only beautiful to listen to, but gives his words a greater sense of importance through a constant flow of words. The unity and grace with which he writes allows his audience to connect on a deeper level with his writing, allowing him to appeal to their emotions quite well. Pathos is the aspect of any work of art in which the creator appeals to the emotions of his or her audience. It allows readers or observers to feel what the author, speaker, or singer is feeling. This aspect, within literature in particular, is often achieved through the use of powerful language and vivid imagery. For example, in Futility Owen describes his fallen comrades limbs so dear achieved as fullnerved still warm too hard to stir (11). Both of these lines are written very artistically and when readers see the importance Owen puts on the life of his friend only to hear his fate so gruesomely described, they feel the same confusion and pain that Owen felt upon seeing his friends untimely death. His powerful language and vivid imagery allow readers to see what he is witnessing, and cause them to feel some of the similar emotions he felt. By feeling his pain, the audience will be more likely to adopt his view that war is senseless, a

waste of time and blood. The fallen soldier makes people angry about the affects of war, thus causing them to view war as Owen does. This firsthand experience on the battlefield is another experience that allows Owen to masterfully use the aspect of pathos throughout his writing. He conveys the horrors and brutality of war to his readers flawlessly, opening himself up to the reader more and more with every line, allowing his audience to vicariously feel his sentiment. While many of his poems written during or after his service in the war focus on the brutality of war, he goes one step further in Futility to question the meaning of life and existence. The sonnet begins by speaking of a presumably fallen soldier. Owen speaks of moving him into the sun, a thing that used to wake him from sleep with its whispers of fields unsown (1, 3). He believes that if anything will be able to awaken this comrade of his, it will be the sun. He speaks of how the sun brings about life, keeping the atmosphere of the first stanza peaceful and serene. He uses descriptions such as gentle touch, whispering, and the kind old sun to help the reader feel the same peace that the fallen soldier used to know, and maybe even what he experiences then in death. His experience fighting in World War I not only gave Owen the firsthand experience to vividly describe the brutality of trench warfare, but it shaped his writing. The war forever changed his work, making it darker, showing his confusion at the evil present in the world and

hatred for the pain it inflicts on good people. This confusion is evident in Futility as he questions the meaning of life in the second stanza of the sonnet when he asks O what made fatuous sunbeams toil to break the earth at all? (13-14). Owen begins to question the powers of the sun in general rather than its influence over just the mysterious soldier. Images of how the sun wakes the seeds and how it woke the clays of a cold star express to the reader his awe of the universe and what it means to have come into existence (8-9). He describes limbs so dear-achieved, telling of the effort that goes into raising a child, only to question why they must then die in a brutal war (10). The description of how the limbs of the soldier that are still warm, but too hard to move, evokes a chilling emotion in readers (11). Most people have never so closely experienced such brutal death like Owen saw every day as he fought in WWI, how a person can be snatched away so quickly. It shows Wilfreds confusion at his friends death, his disbelief that his fellow soldier is actually slain; his rigor mortis clearly shows that the soldier has been killed, but how could it be when he still seems so alive? His confusion at a death that seems so tragic, so terrible, allows him to evoke sympathy out of his audience. He employs the use of pathos to bring his audience to his side of the argument, hoping to make them question many of the same things he did.

Owen very easily conveys this confusion to his readers, especially by ending the sonnet with such a deep and melancholy question. He asks what made the fatuous sunbeams toil to break the earths sleep at all(13-14). It is a question full of hopelessness and has a sense of bitter anger. Owen cannot grasp why we are even born into this world if we will just have to suffer death. Despite being raised a devout Christian by his mother, the hope of an afterlife in his mind does not warrant such horrible deaths (mason.gmu.edu). This internal conflict seems to make him more passionate about his argument, thus allowing him to appeal to his audience on a much more personal level. Throughout the sonnet, Owens vivid language and horrific accounts of the brutality of war allow the reader to take a walk in Owens shoes, seeing just a glimpse of the horror that he faced on the battlefield. By feeling his pain at losing a friend and fellow soldier, the audience is more likely to have a response to Owens rhetorical questions at the end of his sonnet that is similar to the response Owen himself had. By connecting with the audience on a deep, personal level through emotional appeal, Owen makes his audience much more likely to agree with his argument that war is a senseless waste of time, and more importantly, of the precious gift of life. The war for Owen was pointless; he watched countless friends die horrific deaths at the hands of trench and gas warfare. This sonnet relies greatly on pathos to powerfully convey Owens grief and

confusion to his audience. It also poses his question about the meaning of life to the reader, and arouses deep thought and a powerful emotional response from his audience. Futility not only poses Owens questions about the meaning of life, but his use of pathos leaves his audience pondering their own questions about why we have been placed on this earth.

Move him into the sun Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown. Always it awoke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know. Think how it wakes the seeds Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides Full-nerved - still warm - too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? - O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?

Works Cited Wilfred Owen: Poet of the Trenches. The Wilfred Owen Association. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. Wilfred Owen: A Biography Mason.gmu.edu. Web. 28 Apr. 2013